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When I started riding....

WalterK75

Member
We didn't have all these fancy form fitting heated seats. We had a hard, wooden plank bolted to the frame. If you were a wuss, and needed a softer seat, you could get a softwood plank.
 
When I started riding, the earth was still flat.

We didn't have cell phones; we used two tin cans and a piece of string.

My daddy had to hike twelve miles through the snow just to shovel the driveway to the garage so he could get his bike out. And he duct-taped a piece of carpet over the plank.
 
When I started riding [1966].....Gas was 29 cents a gallon.
When the T.V. quit working, you didn't throw it away. You took the tubes out of it and went to the grocery store to check them on the tube tester. They almost always had the replacement tubes.
My parents were paying $125 a month for a 2 bedroom house close to the beach in L.A.
A new VW bug was $1095.
A new Honda was as low as $300.
We would cram 3 people into the trunk of the car and all 5 of us got into the drive-in for $2.00.
The 60's and early 70's were the best times I had.
 
When I started riding, the earth was still flat.

We didn't have cell phones; we used two tin cans and a piece of string.

My daddy had to hike twelve miles through the snow just to shovel the driveway to the garage so he could get his bike out. And he duct-taped a piece of carpet over the plank.


Heck, I had to walk 4 miles to school & back, uphill both ways & in snow year round......:scratch
 
When I started riding, the earth was still flat.

We didn't have cell phones; we used two tin cans and a piece of string.

My daddy had to hike twelve miles through the snow just to shovel the driveway to the garage so he could get his bike out. And he duct-taped a piece of carpet over the plank.

My daddy had to hike twelve miles, uphill through snow and across a river to get to the outhouse. Afterwards, with the lightened load, he walked five miles to the garage, wrapped the plank in an old deer hide for the ride to work, in the coal mines.
 
My daddy had to hike twelve miles, uphill through snow and across a river to get to the outhouse. Afterwards, with the lightened load, he walked five miles to the garage, wrapped the plank in an old deer hide for the ride to work, in the coal mines.

Try telling that to the kids of today. They won't believe you...even if it was true.
 
What do you mean, 'even if it was true'?
You can't believe that a guy what works in a coal mine can afford a property 12 miles by 5 miles, but not indoor plumbing?
dc
 
When I started riding, 1957

No one cared that I did not have a drivers license. No one cared that the old Indian Chief I rode smoked and rattled. No one cared that I ran whatever tires I could find in the dump. No one cared that I took small children for rides. No one cared that I rode it to school with my .410/.22 in the scabbard strapped to it. No one cared that I rode across their land, because I never destroyed any crops or fences. No one cared that the helmet and goggle I wore came from my Uncle Jack's as a tank driver in Korea. No one cared what oil I put in it. No one teased me because I did not ride a Harley.
 
What do you mean, 'even if it was true'?
You can't believe that a guy what works in a coal mine can afford a property 12 miles by 5 miles, but not indoor plumbing?
dc

Dad only owned the property that the outhouse stood on. The rest of Grandad Bob's farm was sold to pay for Uncle Sam's surgeries after he fell-off the stable wall while Grammy Daisy was milking their only goat. Until he died, at age 94, Uncle Sam had a bit of that pitch fork stuck in his tailbone.

The outhouse sat between the farm property that Dad rented and the coal mine. The garage was rented from tight wad cousin Lester on Mom's side of the family, he drove a Hudson.
 
You had a plank? Luxury!

It was from the stearage births on the deportation ship that carried Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Seamus from Ireland to Australia. But, a few days out of port, the ship encountered a great storm and the fortunate dregs of the British Empire washed ashore in Newfoundland, just to spite the crown.

If not for that plank and a 1/2 keg of rum, Seamus wouldn't have lived to curse the British, again.
 
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bliss of youth

The factory was on strike. No gaskets were available. cereal boxes were cut up and used. Used re-refined oil as it leaked so bad and a 6 volt dry cell flashlight battery as it was cheaper than the normal one. (65 BSA C15).
 
I still don't need heated seats, heated grips, GPS connection and cell-phone integration via bluetooth on my motorcycle(s). Fortunately 15 of my bikes do not have it. Only the K16GT does because everything came in a package and I had to take it, although I didn't want it. The biggest grin on my face I am getting is when riding my 1973 Kawasaki H1 2-stroke Triple...and it doesn't even have electric start....
 
...my only training was riding on the back of a Honda Cub. But the BSA dealer wasn't worried when he sent me onto the streets of Baltimore with a lesson consisting of "That's the key, there's where the lights turn on". Probably par for the course in 1967.... Jeeze!
 
...my only training was riding on the back of a Honda Cub. But the BSA dealer wasn't worried when he sent me onto the streets of Baltimore with a lesson consisting of "That's the key, there's where the lights turn on". Probably par for the course in 1967.... Jeeze!

But, did you have a plank?
 
This is silly. They all(MC's except for the biggies) had banana seats back then.:thumb This plank stuff doesn't float! Steel tractor seats and hard bicycle seats yes, wood, no:thumb
 
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